I'll Conjure for You, page 18
Her touch, her kind eyes, her witch promise…. Yes, Everett could trust her. He’d trusted her up until this point and was willing to follow her even further. “Okay, talk me through the process.”
Chapter 24
Everett felt amazing.
Even as Helen drove them to his Nana’s house, every nerve in his body itched with excitement. As they pulled into Milly’s driveway and faced the darkened windows of her house, Everett’s heart pounded a steady rhythm.
When Helen had explained the entire process to him back at his cabin, he was understandably frightened by every step of the ritual. He was essentially being used as bait to lure a demon from the second floor. Now? He looked at the doorway leading to danger, and felt the same virility he’d felt when Helen had placed that spell on him. Like he could take down twenty Sitka spruces in an hour.
“Whew!” he blew out a large breath and rubbed his hands on his thighs. “Let’s get in there and do this!”
Helen put her Jeep in park and looked at him. “That must be the potion talking….”
“Yeah, probably,” Everett laughed. “I feel like I could run a two minute mile without breaking a sweat. What is in that potion again?”
She laid the back of her hand against his forehead. “I soaked a small piece of morganite in geranium oil, fenugreek, and maca. I ground up an extra Adderall and put it in my bottle.”
“Are you sure I didn’t take yours?” he asked.
“I’m sure,” she said, pulling away. “You feel like you’re supposed to. This potion is concentrated and its ingredients are mingling with your adrenaline. It should only last for a few hours, but for now, you should feel powerful enough—”
“To get it up,” Everett interrupted. When she explained the need for this magical Viagra, it made sense to him. There was absolutely nothing erotic about having sex in his grandmother’s house while a demon lurked upstairs.
She smiled. “Exactly. Now when we get in there, I need you to follow every instruction I give you to the tee. We don’t have time to do anything twice, and I can’t repeat myself twice.”
“I can do that,” he said, taking another deep breath. “How do you feel? Are you nervous?”
Helen nodded. “I am, but I also feel confident. Much more than I had last night.”
“The potion?”
“Yeah, and I have you and Henry behind me. I’m more confident with you, Everett.”
His heart floated upon hearing her words. It almost seemed unbelievable that she needed him. This was her strange, terrifying world. A world he’d been largely unaware of until last week. “Good,” he said, softly. “Lean on me while you fight. I’ll be right beside you and Henry.”
She squeezed his hand. “Let’s get in there.”
They efficiently grabbed all of Helen’s tools and Henry from the backseat before facing the house. Everett carried a twenty pound bag of salt with one arm and one of her backpacks on his shoulder. Around his neck, a double knotted strip of leather held a new protection sigil. If the Mirror Woman wanted to snatch this one, she’d have a harder time getting her icy grip on it.
As they climbed the porch stairs, they’d both fallen as quiet as the rabbit. Everett watched Helen produce another piece of chalk and etch over her past outline of the door. She pressed hard, brightening the white symbols and lines. As she drew, she muttered something under her breath. Words he couldn’t quite make out. When she finished, she nodded to the door. “Unlock it.”
He quickly pulled his grandmother’s key out and opened the door. He pushed it back, revealing the dimly lit foyer they’d escaped from last week. A chill skated down his spine as he peered inside. He wasn’t as frightened as he had been, but he wasn’t foolish either. He’d wait on Helen before taking the next step.
She took his hand and pulled him downward. “Kneel to the house and cross yourself.”
Everett lowered himself to one knee and set the sack of salt down before him. It had been a long time since he’d made the sign of the cross. A really long time. He snuck a glance at Helen’s movements. Father, Son, Holy Ghost. While they knelt, she quickly unclasped a compact she’d hidden in the fanny pack strapped across her chest. Black powder fell away as she dipped her thumb into it. She marked herself on the center of her forehead, then Henry, and last, Everett.
“Okay,” she breathed. “When you follow me inside, you’re not to walk past the foyer. Stand in the middle of the hall and let me set up the circle around you. If you hear anything, no, you didn’t. If you see anything, no, you didn’t. If you have to look at something, just stare at the floor, your feet, or close your eyes. You cannot interact with anything outside of me or Henry.”
“Got it.”
“Set the salt at your feet and I’ll use it as I need.”
“Alright.”
Helen stepped inside first, carrying Henry and his basket in the crook of her elbow. “Leave the door open,” she said in a low voice.
Everett did as he was told and followed her. When he’d walked an appropriate distance, he stopped and looked down at his feet. Ahead of him, he couldn’t see Milly’s stairwell, the living room, or her parlor to his right. He stood a little off to the side of the guest bedroom where the Mirror Woman lived. Instead of thinking about her, he chose to focus on his boots, the light tan leather, scuffed and dusted from years of use.
He watched his laces as he felt Helen hurry around him. Every once in a while, she’d slip a small measuring cup into the sack of salt beside him. She was creating a circle of salt to cover the chalk one she’d drawn on Milly’s hardwood floor. She’d also drawn several lines around his feet. If Everett had to guess, it was one of those upside down stars.
Next came the candles.
She placed them around the circles, but he couldn’t see the pattern. He could only hear the scratch of matches against the box. As soon as she lit them, the scent of sandalwood and something spicy filled the small foyer.
“Lie down, on your back, in the center of this circle,” she whispered, touching his shoulder. “I’m almost done protecting our circle.”
“Okay,” he said, lowering himself to the floor. He was right. She’d drawn a star and placed blue candles at each point. On his back, he focused on her or the ceiling, but tried not to look behind her. Henry was out of his basket and more active. The rabbit followed Helen around the circle, ducking in and out from the bottom of her flowy skirt, stopping where she stopped to sprinkle black powder. Amazingly, the animal also knew not to leave the confines of salt and ash.
When Helen completed the circle around him, she knelt at his side. Her beautiful face filled his vision, lit by the surrounding candles. Frizzy curls escaped her ponytail as she leaned closer to him. Everett wanted to touch them and her face. He wanted to pull her to him and kiss her deeply.
“How do you feel within the circle?” she whispered.
“Not so manic,” he said, eyes searching her face. Had he ever noticed the tiny mole right below her left eye? Or how vibrant her brown irises were? “I feel relaxed and very focused. Your eyes are the most beautiful shade of brown,” he whispered. “So dark and mysterious. Did you know that?”
Helen smiled brightly. “Thank you. That means the circle is working. No matter what happens outside of it, you should only feel me, see me. Pay close attention to everything I tell you and you’ll be okay.”
“What about you?” he asked, finally running his fingers along the slope of her cheek. So incredibly soft…. “Will you be okay?”
She nodded. “I will. We should begin while there’s calm. I don’t know how long we’ll have it.”
“Right.”
Helen reached her tool bag and pulled out a small vial and rubbed a bit of oil on his throat. “This is a warrior’s anointing oil with sandalwood, bergamot, and black pepper. I’m putting it at your throat to give you the strength to use your voice when you need it the most.”
He released a soft grumble from his chest as she massaged the oil into his skin. “It smells nice. Did you already put some on the circle?”
“I did, and on me and Henry.”
When his name was mentioned, the rabbit hopped closer to Everett and licked his temple. “Aww, thank you, buddy.”
“Now,” Helen said, placing the vial of oil back in her bag. “The Devil is a liar. He’ll say anything, make you believe anything, to get what he wants. That means we can lie, too,” she said, pulling out a shiny blade. It was a small straight dagger with an elaborately designed silver hilt.
Everett lifted a brow when he saw it. “What’s that for?”
“A very small blood sacrifice. Just enough to get the creature’s attention. I’ve done this part before.”
“Oh, thank God,” he said in a dry voice.
Her smile comforted him, though. Everything Helen did, every word she spoke assured him that she was in control.
“I need to give you a small nick,” she added. “I can take it from your thumb if you’d like.”
He gave her a thumbs-up and she sliced him before he could fully register what had happened. Everett looked at his finger and saw the straightest, cleanest line of blood appear.
“I’m a good chef, you know?” she joked, as if reading his mind. “Now instead of bathing in your blood like they used to back in the day, I’ll just take a little and place it here.” She lowered the collar of her t-shirt and pressed his bloody thumb in the center of her chest and slightly to the left. At her heart.
Everett didn’t know why the fuck that was such an arousing sight.
Helen must have felt it too because she tilted her head back and let out a breathy sigh. “Oh God,” she whispered. “I didn’t expect that….”
A familiar heat returned to his heart and his breathing sped up. “Please tell me it’s time.” The heat scorched down his body and spread through his limbs so quickly he used his free hand to unbutton his jeans.
“Stop,” she said, placing her hand over his. “I hate to say this, but I need you to lay back and let me do this next part.”
“Fuck, say no more.” He was already straining uncomfortably against his pants and was desperate for release.
THUD…
Something upstairs tumbled into the floor above them.
“It’s time,” she muttered. “Are you ready to lie to the Devil?”
“Absolutely.”
Helen quickly hitched her skirt up her thighs and straddled his legs. “Henry, get back into the basket and don’t come back out until I need you.”
THUD…
I should feel more scared, he thought absently while Helen undid his zipper. She shoved his pants down his hips and shimmied herself closer to his aching dick. He may have heard something heavy and lumbering upstairs, but he could only feel her.
And if she wasn’t going to acknowledge it, he sure as shit wouldn’t either.
“Everett Myer, do you willingly sacrifice your innocent blood upon this altar?” she asked, grinding her hips against him.
“You weren’t wearing panties this whole time?” he asked in wonderment, delighting in her bare skin sliding against his.
“Focus,” she hissed. “Do you willingly sacrifice your innocent blood upon this altar?”
“God, yes,” he groaned, letting his eyes fall shut. “I give it willingly.”
“Do you call upon those dark forces seen and unseen?” she moaned. He could feel her pushing his shirt up to his chest and her finger drawing something on his belly. The sensation of her slickness gliding up and down his dick promptly won out.
“Yes,” he said as his hips rocked in-sync with her movements. “Am I allowed to touch you?”
“Mm-hmm…”
THUD THUD THUD
Everett slid his hands through her skirt and caressed her hot bare thighs. She was burning up, too, filled with the same feverish passion he was experiencing. Helen raised herself slightly, gripped him in her small hand, and slowly pushed herself down.
He growled, bent his knees and raised his hips to meet her. “Fuck!” he grunted. She felt like an absolute dream. In the back of his mind, a tiny part of his consciousness that still recognized the world outside of her body, heard the faint footsteps above him. He understood that they were agitating something upstairs, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about that or saving his everlasting soul.
The only thing that mattered was Helen Beck.
Her hot, wet walls sliding and clenching against him. Pulling him, luring him deeper into the void. He was a willing sacrifice alright.
“Your bright light shines blue and white,” she murmured, her hands on his chest as she swiveled her hips. “It floods the darkness, carrying a kind spirit. I will protect what I have taken from you, Everett Myer. You will shine within me.”
“Yes,” he blindly agreed. “Yes.”
“Your bright light shines blue and white,” she chanted as she bounced up and down. He focused on her lips as she spoke, the dreamy trance-like expression on her face.
He found himself following her mantra as he gripped her by the hips and pulled her up and down. “My bright light shines blue and white,” he muttered. “My bright light shines blue and white….”
“I will protect what I have taken from you.”
“You will protect what I have given you, Helen Beck,” he told her.
Her eyes refocused on his and swam with tears with his admission. “I will,” she said with a tremulous smile.
“I know you will,” he said, tipping on the edge of delirious pleasure. He was coming… and soon. The building explosion within his heart and loins threatened to pull him away from her. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to enrapture her just as much as she’d ravished him. “I’m coming,” he bit out through a clenched jaw.
“Come,” she leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “Let your bright light shine blue and white.”
His lower belly clenched as his balls tightened. A growl tore out of his chest as he arched his back and sank deep into her. His world expanded past the walls of the old colonial house, past the surrounding woods and into the dusky night.
And when he fell back to Earth, he dared to open his eyes.
Helen’s smiling face was still above him. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“More than okay,” he panted. “I’m—”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark shadow behind her. Something oddly shaped, crouched in the middle of the stairwell. Just halfway to the first floor. Its glowing yellow eyes stared a hole into him.
“We’re not alone,” he breathed.
Helen climbed from him, pulling her skirt down. “Don’t look at it,” she warned. “Just keep your eyes on me. You don’t belong to it.”
He stood and did as he was told, looking down at her determined face while he readjusted his pants. “Okay.”
“You need to leave now, Everett,” Helen said, putting her hands against his chest. “Your job is finished.”
“Huh?”
Before he could react, an inexplicable force pushed him though the front door. It felt like a strong gust of wind had propelled him backwards, sending him flat on his ass on Milly’s front porch. She and Henry remained within the circle. Her hands were held aloft as though she had pushed him. But he hadn’t felt her hands….
Everett scrambled to get to the door, but it slammed shut just as he saw the glowing yellow eyes right behind her.
“Helen!” he screamed as his fists fell upon the door. He tried the old brass knob and couldn’t get it to twist. “Helen, open up!”
What was she going to do without him?
Chapter 25
She’d likely never feel this power again in her life.
Something in Everett’s blood offering made Helen’s body electrify with energy she’d never experienced before. She hadn’t warned him beforehand, but he couldn’t be here for this part of the ritual. Vernelle was adamant that the rest of the fight was hers only.
You can’t protect him and complete this task….
Since there was only so much she could devote her brain to at one time, Helen didn’t need to be told twice. What she hadn’t expected was the strength of her magic as she pushed Everett out of the house. She could feel the breath of the demon just over her shoulder and couldn’t count on the circle protecting all three of them. His pounding and screaming shook the door, but she couldn’t let him back inside. Not until she took care of business.
When she spun around, Helen was faced with something more terrifying than she could have ever imagined. The smell hit her first. A scent that she’d been saved from last night when the creature was on the other side of her window. Fire and brimstone. Acrid burning that incredibly chilled her to the bone.
The demon’s body was entirely black and skeletal thin, resembling a human man’s to a point. From the waist on down, however, a black goat’s body rose to his full height on dusty, sooty cloven hooves. His fingers were tipped with long jagged nails, the same that had defiled her home last night. Her gaze climbed higher as he stood erect, at least a foot taller than Everett, until her eyes settled on his blazing gold eyes.
He was not smiling today.
If Helen had to guess, he did not find this funny in the least.
“What have you done?” he asked in a deathly deep voice. When he opened his mouth, the burning smell made her eyes water. She tried not to shrink back from his closeness, but she couldn’t help flinching. He slid a black hoof forward, but stopped.
He looked down at her circle and then back at her. He let out an irritated growl that rumbled through the hall and shook the paintings in the foyer. He swung a spindly arm over her, causing Helen to duck and push her hands past her head. His claws paused just a foot away from her outstretched arms.
Henry had hopped out of his basket and gave a mighty thump.
To her amazement, the demon’s hand hung in the air as his angry yellow eyes darted to the rabbit. The soul-wrenching howl this monster let out would make any pack of wolves sound like weaned puppies.
